Another Scream
by Butterfly Kitty
Summary: Giovanni is sick and tired of Jessie and James always fumbling around and blasting off with failure, so he decided a punishment should be instilled. However, this punishment could be deadly.
1. Prologue: Into Darkness

_Prologue_

_"Sir, the new recruit is here with the pokemon you have requested."_

_"Good, bring her to me."_

_..._

_"Boss?"_

_"Ah, so you're the new recruit. Hello."_

_"Hi... I caught the pokemon you wanted. I had to go all the way to Unova to get it!"_

_"Whatever. So it can project dreams?"_

_"Yeah..."_

_"Interesting... I have a team that could use a punishment... Hehehe..."_

_"...Boss?"_

_"Ah. Anyway, can it read memories?"_

_"It's a psychic type, Boss."_

_"Right, give me the pokemon. I have a lot of work to do."_

-/-/-

I woke up with a start, breathing heavily. Tears amd sweat adorned my face and body. The moon was full, the stars shining, and darkness shrouded the world.

I remembered everything.

"Nightmare?"

I gasped, turning to face my partner in crime James. His blue hair was just long enough to hide his face.

"No... of course not. Nightmares...they're frivolous things for scared little children," I scoffed, rolling my eyes for emphasis.

"I heard you muttering 'no' and 'please' under your breath." James sighed. I looked away.

"Oh."

There was a long silence as we listened to crickets chirping and Meowth snoring softly next to us, with the occasional call of a Noctowl in the distance. Then James finally said, "wanna talk about it?"

"No," I immediately answered. "Like I said, only terrified babies get nightmares." In truth, I really didn't want to talk about it. It seemed weak, and the dream itself still seemed too daunting to even want to remember.

"Oh... ok."

I curled back up in my sleeping bag, staring out into the darkness. We were in a forest, sleeping under the trees and stars. My magenta hair, usually molded in a perfect whipped shape, was currently sprawled around me like a veil. James would normally have a fit, immediately pulling out his hairspray to fix my hair, but now he just sat, staring aimlessly the other way.

"I had one too, if it makes you feel any better."

I didn't respond.


	2. Blasting Off For The Night

"We're blasting off agaaaaiiiin...!"

I squeezed my eyes shut. The twerp's Pikachu had just thunderbolted our hot air balloon and James, Meowth and I were being hurled through the air. However, I was used to this kind of failure by now. We were in the air for quite a while when we finally landed in a patch of grass somewhere. I suppressed a yelp as my back slammed into the ground, an immense pain corrupting my body. Meowth and James immediately huddled together, probably expecting one of my "tantrums;" however, I was tired. We all were. So, instead of exploding in anger like I usually do, I just sat up and muttered two simple words;

"Fuck this."

James and Meowth both gasped.

"She's... she's not throwing a fit!"

"Someone call a doctor!"

"Maybe Nurse Joy will fix her up."

They both started giggling at that. I shot them both a death glare and they flinched. I yawned, turning away so they wouldn't see. It could be seen as a sign of weakness, and I was absolutely not weak.

There was a silence between us for a while. The only sounds heard were the rustling of the wind in the trees and grass and some bird pokemon chirping. I shivered a bit as I noticed that the sun had started setting.

"So... now what?" James asked. I turned around sharply.

"I don't fucking know!" I snapped. "Let's start by finding out where the hell we are!"

"Yeesh, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed," Meowth muttered. I flinched slightly, but I noticed James did too.

"...Anyway," I said hesitantly, "why don't we look around a bit?" James agreed, and Meowth followed as I started walking slowly to the right of where we landed.

"I can't see a damn thing," Meowth complained. "It's getting too dark."

I groaned. "Stop complaining Meowth!" I said, pulling out one of my two pokeballs. "Pumpkaboo, come out and help us see!" In a bright flash, Pumpkaboo appeared, its flashlights already on. It floated beside me, lighting the way as we walked.

"Jessie I'm hungry," Meowth complained. I didn't even respond. We walked for about ten more minutes when Meowth finally complained for the millionth time that he was tired and hungry. Although I agreed, I wasn't ready to go back to sleep.

"Do we have any food left?" I asked James sullenly. He shook his head. "But we haven't eaten anything in two days, and I'm hungry!"

"Look who's complaining now," Meowth said wryly. I glared at him.

"We'll get food tomorrow, you guys will live," James muttered. "Let's get some sleep." Meowth happily agreed to that, immediately curling up in his sleeping bag. As I reluctantly started rolling out mine, James tapped my shoulder and gave me a worried look. "You okay?" he asked softly. My gaze turned cold.

"Fuck off, I'm fine," I snapped. As James' face turned sad, then angered, I felt a wave of guilt and frustration wash over me.

"Fine, you goddamn bitch," he said, rolling out his sleeping bag next to Meowth instead of me. I finished preparing my makeshift bed and sat on it as James did the same, turning so his back was to me. Meowth was already snoring. I glared at James, as he turned around to look at me. As his eyes met mine, his worried expression turned into a nasty glare, and he turned away. I did too, calling back Pumpkaboo and hugging my knees to my chest.

-/switchpov\-

"No..."

Just as I was starting to drift off, soft cries could be heard. I turned around to see that Jessie had eventually collapsed into her sleeping bag, and was snoring softly. Between us, a fitful Meowth was tossing and turning, muttering things to himself.

"So it's happening to you now..." I muttered. "First me, then Jessie, now you..." I crawled over to Meowth and started shaking him. "Meowth," I hissed. "Meowth, wake up!"

"MEEEOOOWTHHH!"

I flinched as he screeched, his eyes so wide I thought they'd pop out of his head. I looked worriedly at Jessie. If there's anything I have learned it's to never wake a sleeping beast. Luckily, Jessie just moaned and curled up tighter. I sighed, then looked down at Meowth.

"Damn, I just had the worst dream," Meowth said. I chuckled dryly.

"Join the club."

"It was about Meowsie and my old group."

I noticed that Meowth was much more open than Jessie was. "Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked. Meowth shook his head.

"Nah, it's okay." Surprisingly enough, he was back asleep in minutes. I gave a halfhearted smile.

"Well, if he can do it, so can I," I murmured, curling back up in the warmth of my sleeping bag and slowly drifting off to sleep...

I woke to the sounds of sniffles. It seemed as though I had only been asleep a few minutes, and luckily, it was dreamless. As I shook the grogginess out of my head, I could distinctly hear someone crying. Looking up, I saw Jessie sitting upright, with her head in her hands. Her back was facing me, her long magenta hair flowing down her back. Meowth slept peacefully between us.

"Jessie?"

She turned slightly to me, enough for me to see tearstains on her cheeks. She immediately turned away, muttering a barely audible "go away" intended for me. Instead of following her orders, I crawled over to her.

"Jessie, was it a dream?"

"Fuck off," she said, her voice cracking. There were dark circles under her eyes that were probably under mine too. She wiped her eyes, looking away.

"Jessie..."

"Go away!" she spat at me, turning back to me. "I don't need your help!" My stomach tied into a knot, but I rolled my eyes.

"Well quit being such a baby then," I shot back angrily. Another sob escaped Jessie as I sulked back to my bed.


End file.
